‘Rita Says New Works & Edge of the Land’. 4th to 28th of July 2013

Hundred Years Gallery presents a new show of sculpture, film and series of performances by gallery artist RitaSays.

‘Edge of the Land : Jaime Valtierra, Yuri Pirondi, Anna Burel and Pascal Ancel Bartholdi’ exhibition extended during July at the gallery ground floor.

Rita Says: New work from sculptor and performance artist Rita Says referencing gender, film, and the history of Body Art. The show features three site specific pieces, each an attempt to reintegrate drawing into performance practice..

These pieces include No.52 (a variable sculpture constructed from components that can be assembled into different forms), 2 new performances: No.20 and No.18 (both based on Japanese and Italian Horror Cinema), a film screening of No.16 (accompanied by The Jerico Orchestra on July 6th), and two live performances of “Against The Day” presented on the eve of July 20th and 27th.

Both performances of “Against the Day” can only be seen from outside of the Gallery at specific time period, please check site for details.

‘Rise and Fall of Mr. Random’ by Jaime Valtierra

An exhibition curated by Jaime Valtierra.

The pieces on show are chosen works from specific series from each artist which relate to or speak the language of representation on symbolic, mythical or poetic terms.

“ There is a place where the artist reaches a certain stream of thoughts/feelings, lead by her/his own intuition, with the intention of leaving a rational understanding of the world out of the creative process, reaching the absurd, the incoherent, the fantastic….”

This kind of process can impersonate the artist`s experience of her/his world. It could generate artificial spaces and characters which mask an innermost desire of the artist: that this fiction or representation will contain a degree of the intensity of the “real”, as it is experienced, and therefore transcend its own “fictional” qualities.

It is through this imagining that the creative person re-appropriates for her/himself the rights for a lyrical, humoristic, tragic, etc discourse and therefore a questioning of her/his own sense of reality.

This exhibition presents such discourse through the work of four artists working with painting, photography and collage, works responsive to their experience and what they might consider their own created or borrowed narratives.

Pascal Ancel Bartholdi lives and works in London. His research revolves around the paradox of personal reality versus conventional realism. His projects include monochrome chemical transformations, short cine-animations as well as stories, poetry, essays and performance. He exhibits regularly as part of a wider form of psychological and cultural exploration, and continues to collaborate with the Doomed Gallery, London, as a curator and press writer while being a member of the Magma Collective.

Series: Narrative of objects. Objects lie still; oracles still obscured by the mundane, tilting on the brink of confession. No longer usable by common mortals, they become symbols of a relationship between one form of existence and another. The latent narrative alters the context. The object and the photograph are one.

Yuri Pirondi is a filmmaker and visual artist who lives and works in London. Yuri attained an MA in Photography and Visual Arts at the A. Venturi Art Institute of Modena. His work is broadcasted, screened and exhibited worldwide on both Art Platforms and Film Festivals. His practice is a reflection on the relation between visual art and the cinematic experience. From the start of his career Yuri has followed a multi-disciplinary and transversal artistic direction based on collaborations with different artists including composers, writers, experimental theatre and dance practitioners, and performers.

Inspired by the Tarot card tradition, known to have originated in North Italy in the 15th Century, this project represents Yuri`s interpretation of each character from the deck. The works reflect his observation of people of his environment; those he interacted with on a day to day basis. Yuri focused on artists with a strong, genuine moral strength, who had become immersed in their own creative spaces; caught up in their own worlds. Having shot portraits of them, it soon became apparent he was left with intimate portrayals of each; each card, each picture with a unique story to tell, each relating to a particular character from the deck and their experience of the place represented; a modern day interpretation of an ancient tradition.

Anna Burel is a London based artist born in France currently working at the Bow Arts Studios, London. Her practice includes the use of different techniques such as collage or painting, mixing a variety of media like paper, textiles, or photographic negatives. Her “compositions” are the result of a method which plays with elements from her own imagination or recollected images, and which she develops by means of constructed narratives and free association.

The works on show, including her paintings and collages, present a personal and physiological world where characters rise from the unconscious as a guide in the exploration of Identity. She develops an aesthetic around the body as an attempt to address the struggle to understand and define oneself: covered, naked,open; the face masked or unmasked. The Self is isolated, fragmented, multiplied, or in disguised, transformed into a set of symbols and archetypes, functioning as an study of the anatomy of her own mind. http://www.londonsartistquarter.org/users/annaburel

Jaime Valtierra works and lives in London. In 2006 he completed a Masters Diploma at the Prince`s Drawing in School after his studies in Spain ( CBA Painting and Printmaking, ESDIP Illustration and Graphic Design ). His work extends to the use of different media including painting, printing, drawing, performance and video projection. He exhibits regularly both in the UK and abroad. He is an active member of London-based Magma Arts Collective.

The series of paintings and drawings on this show reflect a continuous line of work dating back to 2009. The pieces focus on a personal exploration and interpretation of lived situations and memories through a series of imaginary and archetypal compositions and characters. The works present fictional spaces populated by carefully interwoven narratives and represented emotional states. These theatre-like constructs allow for the display of specific internal tensions and dramatic expression, as well as humour and play. www.jaimevaltierra.co.uk

Thursday the 4th: Rita Says’ performance and introduction ….Saturday the 6th: Rita Says’ film screening of No.16 accompanied by The Jerico Orchestra.Friday the 12th: Loop.pool & KMAT: loops and percussion with American experimental composer Rick WalkerSaturday the 13th: ‘Earshots’, Series 1. Improvised music and sound art performance.Sunday the 14th: Music evening with Jowe Head and the Demi-Monde, Woog Riots (from Darmstadt, Germany) & Miss Roberts and The Rude MechanicalsSaturday 20th: Rita Says’ performance ‘Against the day’ at the gallery window – just to be viewed from outside.Saturday 27th: ‘The Next Room’, performance & ‘Rita Says’ performance ‘Against the day’ at the gallery window – just to be viewed from outside.